nd and meadow are covered with ice and snow. The marsh will bear
horse and rider, the bishop with his priests, and armed men. They ride
the shortest way, through the waving reeds, where the wind moans
sadly.

Blow thy brazen trumpet, thou trumpeter clad in foxskin! it sounds
merrily in the clear air. So they ride on over heath and
moorland--over what is the garden of Fata Morgana in the hot summer,
though now icy, like all the country--towards the church of Widberg.

The wind is blowing his trumpet too--blowing it harder and harder. He
blows up a storm--a terrible storm--that increases more and more.
Towards the church they ride, as fast as they may through the storm.
The church stands firm, but the storm careers on over field and
moorland, over land and sea.

Boerglum's bishop reaches the church; but Olaf Hase will scarce do so,
hard as he may ride. He journeys with his warriors on the farther side
of the bay, to help Jens Glob, now that the bishop is to be summoned
before the judgment seat of the Highest.

The church is the judgment hall; the altar is the council table. The
lights burn clear in the heavy brass candelabra. The storm reads out
the accusation and the sentence, roaming in the air over moor and
heath, and over the rolling waters. No ferry-boat can sail over the
bay in such weather as this.

Olaf Hase makes halt at Ottesworde. There he dismisses his warriors,
presents them with their horses and harness, and gives them leave to
ride home and greet his wife. He intends to risk his life alone in the
roaring waters; but they are to bear witness for him that it is not
his fault if Jens Glob stands without reinforcement in the church at
Widberg. The faithful warriors will not leave him, but follow him out
into the deep waters. Ten of them are carried away; but Olaf Hase and
two of the youngest men reach the farther side. They have still four
miles to ride.

It is past midnight. It is Christmas. The wind has abated. The church
is lighted up; the gleaming radiance shines through the window-frames,
and pours out over meadow and heath. The mass has long been finished,
silence reigns in the church, and the wax is heard dropping from the
candles to the stone pavement. And now Olaf Hase arrives.

In the forecourt Jens Glob greets him kindly, and says,

"I have just made an agreement with the bishop."

"Sayest thou so?" replied Olaf Hase. "Then neither thou nor the bishop
shall quit this church alive."

And